There has been no expansion of the bluetongue 150km surveillance zone which included parts of Sussex and Kent on the English mainland as a result of bluetongue on France’s northern coast.

Pre-movement testing in France over the last month has identified just four new cases of the disease.

However, France has also been reporting BTV-4 in sheep and cattle on the island of Corsica, where vaccination has been mandatory.

Italy has reported BTV-4 in the north of the country as well as BTV-1 and BTV-4 in other regions.

Despite there being few reports of BTV-8 from France since the last update, the situation is similar to the epidemiological situation reported last year where there were only a handful of cases reported in these early months, and generally July onwards is when disease starts to remerge across Europe.

Surveillance testing

According to DEFRA, of particular note is that there have been no reports in the northern regions along the coast in France, although this may be in part due to lack of sentinel surveillance testing which is no longer required once an area is within a restriction zone.

Recent meteorological modelling has shown there have been very few days in the last month where the wind has been sufficiently strong or in the right direction to reach the English mainland.

The hot temperatures experienced in southern England in late June and heavy rainfall more recently can reduce the number of active midges.

Risk

The risk of BTV incursion into UK population remains at low to reflect the low levels of infection in northern France.

DEFRA will continue to monitor the current situation in France and disseminate any further updates from the French authorities, particularly with regards to the most recent cases.

Vaccine

A BTV-8 vaccine has been available for UK farmers since mid-July 2016, and the decision to vaccinate will be taken by the farmer, which the UK authorities have encouraged all of them to consider, in consultation with their private veterinary surgeon.

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